808 The CTUWS Blog

The Center for Trade Union and Workers’ Services (CTUWS) has a blog.

The Egyptian government closed the organization in April 2007 after officials from the Ministry of Social Solidarity blamed it for inciting workers to strike. Last June the Ministry of Social Solidarity announced that it would comply with a March 30 Cairo Administrative Court order to allow the center to reopen.

The people I have met from CTUWS have spent their adult lives trying to help Egyptian factory workers. Their blog promises to be an important resource on labor conditions around the country.

804 ‘Killing Is a Career’

The BBC’s Hugh Sykes talks to leaders of Iraq’s “Awakening movement” who warn that if their men aren’t incorporated into the Iraqi Army and police forces, they may switch sides.

An Ameriya engineer who did not want to give his name is also uneasy. He says the continuing security of the neighbourhood relies on all the Awakening men, not just a few of them.

He fears many will be bored, will lose their status, and may be tempted back to al-Qaeda.

“Killing is a career,” he said.

And al-Qaeda are busy threatening members of the Awakening movement. While I was sitting with him, Abu Ibrahim al Azawi got a mobile phone text message from an al-Qaeda member.

“We will put you in the sewer,” it read, “like all unbelievers who sell their souls for dollars.”

The message continued: “You are the shoes of the worshippers of the cross.” Showing the sole of a shoe is a profound Arab insult. [Full story]

(Had to include that last sentence for Angry Arab, who gets a kick out of foreign journalists explaining that “showing the sole of a shoe is a profound Arab insult.”)

Along the same lines, see Robert Dreyfuss’ phone interview with another Awakening commander:

The commander of the Sunni-led Awakening movement in Baghdad says that attacks by the Iraqi government and government-allied militiamen against Awakening leaders and rank-and-file members are likely to spark a new Sunni resistance movement. That resistance force will conduct attacks against American troops and Iraqi army and police forces, he says. “Look around,” he says. “It has already come back. It is getting stronger. Look at what is happening in Baghdad.” [Full story]

799 Syria ‘Tightens Control Over Internet’

Mazen Darwich‘s Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression reports that 161 (mostly opposition) sites are blocked in Syria and that the government has become more savvy about plugging up loopholes. Phil Sands in The National:

In a sign that the censors are becoming more technologically advanced, a series of software gaps that existed in online controls a few months ago have been closed. It used to be a relatively simple matter for internet surfers to get around the censors using freely available programmes. Now accessing prohibited pages is much more difficult, and requires specialised knowledge.

I’d love more details, please!

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